House has an itch, but is afraid to scratch it

In “The Itch,” House and Cuddy meet the day after their kiss. Cuddy tells House they both know she was just emotional at the moment and she appreciates the fact that he didn’t take it any further. House nods and then tries to avoid her as much as possible. He focuses his attention on a mosquito bite on his right hand. He decides to cut the bite open to “get the poison out.”

The team is focusing on an agoraphobic man, Stewart, who had a seizure in his house and wouldn’t let the paramedics take him to the hospital. Cameron met Stewart last year through an outreach program, so she joins the team on this. Stewart had once been in love, and that had prompted him to leave the house with his girlfriend. But on an outing he was mugged and both were shot; his girlfriend died. He does not leave the house now.

The team notices that House is acting strange around Cuddy. When they ask why, he says, “I kind of hit that last night, so now she’s all in my jock.” They assume he’s kidding. When a curious Wilson gets the same reply, he knows it’s the truth (or a version of it) and starts playing matchmaker. First House tells him to forget it, then Cuddy does. House suspects Wilson would really like to be the one dating Cuddy.

This gives Wilson an idea, so he goes to Cuddy and tells her he always has had feelings for her and they should go out. She agrees and then suggests they just have sex right in front of House’s office. She’s figured out that Wilson is just hoping to make House jealous. She leaves, giving him a peck on the cheek but calling him an idiot.

House dreams about the mosquito in his house. In his dream he brings home a propane-powered mosquito extermination tank and, spotting the mosquito, begins to slap at it and everything else with a newspaper. First he slaps at the running tank, knocking off a hose, then at his gas oven, turning on a burner. He stops, looks at the propane tank, the stove, the tank. “Huh,” he says. Then his apartment explodes. He wakes up in a panic and goes to see Wilson, even though it’s 3 a.m. Wilson says House got “bitten” when he kissed Cuddy and that his itching is worse whenever he thinks of her. He tells House to go see Cuddy and kicks him out. House goes instead to see Stewart, who is being treated in his home.

(Fox)

House (Hugh Laurie, who’s showing us the back of his furry little head) brings his team to the home of an agoraphobic man.

Stewart had an interesting explosion himself when the team cut out a piece of his bowel, which was seriously blocked up. To control bleeding, Taub cauterized the area, but the flame ignited the gas that was escaping from the bowels and Stewart’s innards went up in an explosion.

Stewart ends up having some bullet fragments lodged in his bones, causing him to develop lead poisoning.

House gives him a good talking to, and Stewart gets the courage to leave his house. House even inspired himself enough to go back to Cuddy’s house, where he watches her through the window, but he loses courage and goes home.

This episode also developed the relationship between Cameron and Chase, both former team members of House. She tends to shut Chase out, being all damaged because her husband died, and he tells her he won’t wait forever. Finally she cleans out a drawer for him at her house and welcomes him in.

Fans of Hugh Laurie and “House” can vote for the actor and the show in the People’s Choice Awards. Click here to cast your ballot.

Also, I have to ask: Is Hugh Laurie going bald? In “Street Kings,” his recent movie with Keanu Reeves, he is noticably bare on top, from the middle of the hairline on back toward the nape of his neck. In the latest episodes of “House,” his hair is thick and looks pretty fake. Has anyone else noticed this?